Bel Whitwam Farm Conservation Adviser Expand Bel has 25 years experience of working alongside landowners to deliver effective Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship agreements which deliver for wildlife, wildlife habitats, clean water, healthy soils and help to strengthen our well-loved landscapes. She has worked as an adviser on Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship and more recently in Catchment Sensitive Farming and over the years has developed an expert knowledge on hedge and lowland meadow restoration. With FWAGSW she is now delivering advice on Countryside Stewardship schemes, Cross compliance, resource protection and soils advice and is leading on a project to deliver natural flood management in the Upper Coln.
Jenny Phelps Senior Farm Conservation Adviser Expand Jenny has over 30 years’ experience giving on farm advice, the last 10 years of which has been with Gloucestershire FWAG. Jenny leads on many projects including the Upper Thames Catchment Based Approach and Payments for Ecosystem Services Defra pilots. All her projects use the integrated Local Delivery methodology, which aims to value and incorporate the knowledge and needs of land owners, authorities and the local communities.
Jo-anne Leigh Farm Conservation Adviser Expand Jo-anne has worked with FWAG SW as an associate for over two years, completing Farm Environment Plans and environmental stewardship applications. Jo-anne has also worked on the WILD project undertaking farm advice visits covering a suite of issues such as diffuse pollution, countryside stewardship and cross compliance. Jo-anne is also a competent user of ArcGIS software and has used this to map the outputs of projects.
Patrick Dreyer Farm Conservation Adviser Expand Patrick started working for FWAG SW in the Summer of 2015. With over 10 years of practical land management experience he graduated from the RAU in 2014 with a BSc Countryside Management. Originally from West Devon he has a passion for traditional land management coupled with the developing technologies in agriculture. Patrick offers countryside stewardship, cross compliance and general land management advice. He specialises in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), mapping farms and analysing soil and water resources, he also guests lectures at the RAU.
Sarah Wells Farm Conservation Adviser Expand Sarah offers on farm advice on a range of topics including Countryside Stewardship schemes, environmental land management such as habitat creation, nutrient management planning (including NVZ regulations), resource protection and soils advice. For the past two years Sarah has also been involved in drawing up environmental plans for farms in order to satisfy environmental obligations set by retailers. She is experienced in a number of survey techniques and in producing digitised maps through the use of GIS software. Sarah coordinates a number of projects including the facilitation of Payments for Ecosystem services projects throughout the Upper Thames catchment, which focusses on responsible pesticide use and minimising the risk of pesticides reaching surface waters; and the Rest Assured project which aims to help farmers struggling with the complexities of regulation, and to help farms to access funding to support the farm business.